Wiggone!!

Joeblack

Did everyone see Wiggos interview on BBC one tonight at the commonwealth

the jist is hes done with road cycling to concentrate on the track, only using the road for practice towards track cycling :shock:

bmxboy10

Something has gone down for sure and if it has anything to do with his swagger and cockiness he showed at the sports personality of the year I am not surprised sky have dumped him. Shame.

DavidJB

Was really surprised to see such a frank interview! Good bye wiggo

wallace_and_gromit

I think one of two things happened yesterday. Either:

1 - He enjoyed the whole track racing experience so much that he just wants to do that now, along with the odd TT. TP and ITT gold in Rio - timetable permitting - would see him match Sir Chris for golds and be the most bemedalled Brit ever. If he does this, he can basically live at home all the time, avoiding missing his kids and causing domestic strife.

2 - He doesn't really want to ditch Paris Roubaix as an aim, but realised after the hammering the Aussies dished out that there is so much work to be done for Rio that he can't afford to compromise the track work. The track WCs are usually in February, which one assumes he'll be doing in 2015 and 2016, after which preparing properly for PR would be a challenge, given the limited time available.

It's always tricky to second guess what Wiggo really means, and whatever he does mean, he might have changed his mind by today!

Daz555

Wallace and Gromit wrote:

I think one of two things happened yesterday. Either:

1 - He enjoyed the whole track racing experience so much that he just wants to do that now, along with the odd TT. TP and ITT gold in Rio - timetable permitting - would see him match Sir Chris for golds and be the most bemedalled Brit ever. If he does this, he can basically live at home all the time, avoiding missing his kids and causing domestic strife.

The 4 minute power he needs would kill his 1hr TT hopes. More likely he'd try to beat Clancy for the omnium spot (or alongside him if 2 riders per nation are permitted in Rio).

Wiggo doing such big turns showed how much power he has lost since his track days - as Sarah Storey was saying, rather than him pushing the team on, his turns on the front were more about allowing the guys behind to rest longer than usual - making use of his TT stamina.

jimmythecuckoo

That's also true

Here's the linky...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/commonweal ... s/28476411

putneypeddler

DavidJB wrote:

Was really surprised to see such a frank interview! Good bye wiggo

doesn't surprise me - he's usually pretty upfront... why I like the guy

frenchfighter

Ok so a further thing to reinforce what I have been banging on about. Thanks.

wallace_and_gromit

Daz555 wrote:

The 4 minute power he needs would kill his 1hr TT hopes.

I was wondering about this. Is it the stage race preparations that have compromised Wiggo's TP power or long TT preparations?

Or put another way, is it physiologically possible to be in (almost) optimum condition for the TP and a 1hr TT simultaneously?

oscarbudgie

I think getting dropped for the Tour has cut very deeply with him and its a natural protective human response to reject that which has rejected us. Its somewhat poignant. If there was team knocking on his door offering undisputed leadership we'd be hearing and seeing something different.

salsiccia1

oscarbudgie wrote:

I think getting dropped for the Tour has cut very deeply with him and its a natural protective human response to reject that which has rejected us. Its somewhat poignant. If there was team knocking on his door offering undisputed leadership we'd be hearing and seeing something different.

But why isn't there a team knocking on his door offering undisputed leadership?

frisbee

The beauty of the Pyrenees, the weather in the Giro and the cobbles in Roubaix make track cycling pale into absolute insignificance.

The_Boy

I though Wiggins gave up racing on the road years ago.

*scarpers*

jimmythecuckoo

haha

DeVlaeminck

oscarbudgie wrote:

I think getting dropped for the Tour has cut very deeply with him and its a natural protective human response to reject that which has rejected us. Its somewhat poignant. If there was team knocking on his door offering undisputed leadership we'd be hearing and seeing something different.

Exactly this - and for that reason I don't think he's ever been fully committed to the worlds TT or Paris Roubaix which is pretty much proven by how quickly he seems to be dropping them as targets. Is he really committed to the team pursuit - who knows - I think there will always be that voice in the back of his mind saying you should be leading a team in the Tour.

It's possible though that away from a road environment he can enjoy being a big fish in a smaller pool and get stuck into it.

dsoutar

I was surprised that he went for this event in the CG. I know that one of the (few) things missing from his collection is a CG Gold but from what I could gather most people expected this particular group of Aussies to win. Mind you, would there have been a better option. Not sure if there was

salsiccia1

The_Boy wrote:

I though Wiggins gave up racing on the road years ago.

*scarpers*

Ooh, you little tinker

thamacdaddy

Or how do you bow out and secure yourself plenty of public profile for years to come ala Chris Hoy? Ride the olympics.

He is already known by the british public but to achieve paris roubaix (which I would love) would probably give less profile than the olympics in rio, and has more factors to consider than the track where it can be controlled far more.

I think it makes perfect sense for him although I will and already miss seeing him not on the road cycling circuit.

Roberto di Velo

Salsiccia1 wrote:

oscarbudgie wrote:

I think getting dropped for the Tour has cut very deeply with him and its a natural protective human response to reject that which has rejected us. Its somewhat poignant. If there was team knocking on his door offering undisputed leadership we'd be hearing and seeing something different.

But why isn't there a team knocking on his door offering undisputed leadership?

My guess is that whilst he probably did have offers from other teams, and you can speculate about what sort of role, he probably wasn't willing to spend more time away from his family overseas.

It's disappointing, having been a Wiggins fan over the years, to see him do so little since his tour (& Olympic) win. I don't have a great deal of interest in track cycling, and my feeling is that he is still a strong enough rider to be there or there abouts in the current Tour.

Does this mean he won't ride the Vuelta?

DeVlaeminck

When you think of how many years Britain waited for a Tour de France winner who would have thought the first man to do it would end up like this - spending the last two years of his career targeting the team pursuit with any discussion about him amongst cycling fans attracting a significant amount of criticism (I was going to say derision but that's probably a bit strong).

This is a rider who hasn't had a hint of a drugs scandal around him and whose biggest fault seems to be lacking that ruthlessness to shape the team around his career and instead allowed the team to shape his career to their own ends.

Macaloon

DeVlaeminck wrote:

When you think of how many years Britain waited for a Tour de France winner who would have thought the first man to do it would end up like this - spending the last two years of his career targeting the team pursuit with any discussion about him amongst cycling fans attracting a significant amount of criticism (I was going to say derision but that's probably a bit strong).

This is a rider who hasn't had a hint of a drugs scandal around him and whose biggest fault seems to be lacking that ruthlessness to shape the team around his career and instead allowed the team to shape his career to their own ends.

I agree that he fully deserves unqualified legend status. You can look at the same situation another way. Given Wiggo's complex relationship with both road racing and the team, overcoming the 2011 setbacks and Froome issue to win in 2012 was an even greater achievement.

It's quite possible that keeping the legend in a team jersey was the best of all the options left. The people with most questions to answer are those who appeared to exploit Wiggo's profile for short-term gain, but with a big risk to his legacy. Guys who covered the ToC blitz might not feel so great about writing up the next chapter.

mike6

Good luck to him whatever he decides to target. Cycling is a strange sport, It atracts some odd personality types. Look at all the pro's that have gone off the rails, committed suicide or suffered from mental health problems. It seems to be , esentially, a loners activity, but you must also dedicate yourself to the team ethic. There is so much more to a GT than your performance, too many outside influences, unlike the TT or the track where the strongest usually wins if they perform to there potential. Look at Sagan in this Tour, walking away with the Green but cant buy a stage win.

Brad got over his post Olympic medal winning blues, not the last one, and i think the pull of family is making his mind up for him. He climbed very well when winning the Tour but what it must have cost him physicaly and emotionaly to get down to that skeletal weight, and train to climb like that, can only be guessed at. If he decided he did not want to put himself through that again I can understand, It cant be healthy for a none specialist climber to maintain a body fat index like he had during that Tour.

symo

Wiggins > Froome

Sad to see him go. Now we get to see the Kenyan from Monaco picking the team for Sir Dave.

frenchfighter

salsiccia1

symo wrote:

Wiggins > Froome

Sad to see him go. Now we get to see the Kenyan from Monaco picking the team for Sir Dave.

Wasn't that happening anyway?

Can't we give that one a rest :roll:

pinno

I don't think Wiggo has a PR in him even if it was on his target list. The gap between winning and a good placing is huge. Just look at Sean Yates or Roger Hammond in years gone by.

How would things have turned out of he was fully committed to being No2 to Froome in the Tdf - no reservations or ulterior motive? Maybe a podium spot in Froome's absence, just maybe. SKY have collapsed without purpose whereas leaderless Saxo T have done really well despite everything.

ddraver

pinarello001 wrote:

How would things have turned out of he was fully committed to being No2 to Froome in the Tdf - no reservations or ulterior motive? Maybe a podium spot in Froome's absence, just maybe. SKY have collapsed without purpose whereas leaderless Saxo T have done really well despite everything.

That's not really relevant as he says himself that he has no interest in putting in that sort of effort again. David Millar said once that what he grudgingly admired about Wiggins is that he could focus on one race for months and months and train and live like a hermit for all that time whereas Millar would get bored after 2 weeks and do something else...

Millar wasnt ever going to win the Tour or Olympic Gold...

IanRCarter

It's a shame he isn't doing the CG TT, I think that gold was much more likely than in the TP, no Martin, no Cancellara. Saying that, I'm quite surprised England got silver in TP after such a poor GB showing at Worlds but that's a huge gap to have to close on the Aussies. I hope he focuses on it, and maybe the IP for Rio.

ddraver

Remember that the Aussie team is essentially their equivalent of the full Team GB team too so it's not especially surprising that they re so far ahead...

A shame, but not surprising

PuttyKnees

It's not so far off what he's been saying before, just more of a recognition of how much work will be required to get gold at Rio. It's actually a good thing they got stuffed by the Aussies - no chance of complacency now.

It's interesting the contrast between Sky and other GC teams like BMC & Movistar who seem to be happy to support riders on the fringes of being able to win, whereas Sky are utterly ruthless. Can't be a good place to work, even if it's successful.

dsoutar

Not wiggone from Sky though

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/commonweal ... s/28485228